Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1885 — NO DEMAND FOR LABOR. [ARTICLE]

NO DEMAND FOR LABOR.

Review of the Industrial Situation in the Principal Manufacturing States of the Union. (New York special to Chicago News.) Twenty columns of Bradstreet’s space occupied this week with the results of a. most important investigation into the general condition of the leading manufacturing industries of the United States. The inquiries embrace twenty-two States— Maryland. Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, and all north thereof. There had been a general reduction of wages in industrial lines varying from 20to 25 per cent., and, in some instances, to 30 per cent, taking the year through. In some lines the'reductions are as low asIfii'tb'. 15 per <oent Skilled workers' jn v ■ specialties are exempt or partially exempt from this. The reducedforces at work range from 33 per cent, at some points among iron workers to an average of 20 per cent, (against 1880) for the States reported, to 19 per cent among glass-workers; 17 per cent among tabocco operatives; 16 per cent, woolen goods; 14 per cent., bools and shoes; and 12J per cent, among cotton workers. The reductions referred to do not include the shrinkage of clerical forces in mercantile houses. Among industrial wage-earners the reductions in wages have been great where there have been no industrial organizations or weak ones. It must not be overlooked that a considerable share of the number reported now out of work will soon be busy* again, stoppages of mills and factories in. various lines being customary at this season. The record by States is as follows:

H a I* ip Fl iC STATES. : { £ : H Th : J? New England 647,373 45,800 7 New York 531,533 94,475 1» New Jersey 126,038 10,000 8 Pennsylvania 387,072 61,000 16 Maryland 25,000 6,000 7" Virginia 40,184 5,000 13West Virginia 14,411 2,000 14Ohio 183,609 32,000 17 Indiana. 69,508 2,345 12 Michigan 77,591 11,321 16 Illinois 144,127 14,860 10Minnesota 21,247 8,290 40Nebraska and lowa. 33,165 4,000 12Missouri 64,000 5,070 0Kentucky 37,391 7,295 19 Totals, .„. 2,452,749 815,249 13 Of the number reported displaced by thedepression in trade, less than 18,000 is reported due to strikes, or about 5 3-10 per cent. In the seventeen leading industrial cities the number reported dispensed with by striking is 177,115, or nearly 56 per cent, of the total reported. They are distributed as follows*. CITIES. o« £ o®o0'43 s 8Z a fcgs jg Q fr 0 ”" New York 227,352 55,550 24 Philadelphia 185,527 40,000 21 Chicago 79,415 10,400 13 Boston 59,213 4,500 7 6-10-Baltimore 66,338 2,000 3 6-10 Cincinnati 54,517 4,500 8 3-10 Brooklyn 47,587 4,850 10 3-10 St. Louis 41.825 3.870 9 4-10 Pittsburg 36,930 6,0u0 16 Troy and vicinity 22,434 8,200 37 Cleveland and vicinity. 21,724 8,500 39 Paterson.- 19,799 4,500 22 8-10 Tluffalo 18,021 4,500 25 Louisville 17,448 4,295 25 Detroit 16,110 9,950 62 Richmond 14,047 3.500 25 Wheeling 5,512 2,000 36 Total 923,799 177,115 19

The employes in blast furnaces, rolling mills, steel works, forges and bloomaries, foundries, machine and locomotive works in the United States in 1880 numbered 421,000, and in the States reported above 388,000. Returns indicate that at least 80,000 of such operatives have been dispensed with, or 20 6-10 per cent. Of operativeson clothing in New York, New England, Pennsylvania and Ohio, at least 35,000fewer are at work now than a year ago, or over 27 per cent of those in 1880. On cotton goods the decline in the number of operatives in New England, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania is 20.000, or nearly 12 J per cent, of the total in--1880. On woolen goods the decline in. New England, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania is about. 24, MO, or 16 per cent, of the total four years ago. In boots and shoes, so far as detailed, there are 18,000 fewer operatives at work than four years ago (8,000 temporarily in New England), or about 14 per cent, fewer than in 1880. This industry is, however, relatively less depressed than theothers specified. In New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kentucky there are reported 13,000 fewer employes of tobaccomanufacturers, or about 17 per cent, of the total in 1880. In Paterson, N. J., there are 2,000 fewer silk operatives at work, or about 16 per cent, of the whole number in 1880. In Pennsylvania, Ohio, and in St. Louis about 4,700 operatives in the glass factories have been laid off, being about 18 1 per cent, of the total employed in 1880,